Apparatus for continuously treating running lengths of textile material



APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY TREATING RUNNING LENGTHS OF TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Dec. 23, 1963 y 1966 K. IWNICKI ETAL 3,250,096

Inv ntors MU" d mtz/Mzz;

Attorneys United States Patent APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY TREATING This invention relates to apparatus for the treatment of textile materials and more particularly for the treatment of textile materials in continuous lengths under pressure.

Examples of textile materials in continuous lengths are textile fabrics, warps and yarn, for instance, nylon fabric.

The expression pressure as used throughout the specification means, unless otherwise specified, a gauge pressure, i.e. a pressure above atmospheric pressure.

It is not infrequently desirable to submit, say, a continuous fabric, to a continuous treatment under pressure. Thus it may be wished to dye the fabric at a temperature above the boiling point of the dyebath. Nylon fabric is often set by treatment wtih saturated steam under pressure, e.g. steam showing a gauge pressure of 1 /3 atmospheres, because the pressure permits the desired temperature to'be attained.

Whilst, however, there is relatively little difliculty in conducting such pressure treatments batchwise, as soon as a continuous process is attempted, difficulty is encountered in preventing the steam (or other. atmosphere) under pressure from escaping from the steam chamber through the orifices provided for the ingress and egress of the travelling textile materials, particularly when higher pressures, e.g. 3% atmospheres are involved. To prevent or minimise the leak of steam (which constitutes an expensive waste) and facilitate maintenance of the pressure, numerous efforts have been made to seal the afore-' said orifices by means of flaps, rubber rollers and like devices, but without affording what can be regarded as a successful or satisfactory solution to the problem. Indeed it has hitherto been impossible to work with pressures ofv the order of 7 atmospheres. Moreover in the case of a continuous length of fabric passing through a slot, especial difiiculty is experienced in making the ends of the slot gas-tight.

A novel and useful solution to the above problems has now been found which consists of an apparatus comprising a vessel for the continuous treatment of running lengths of textile material under pressure in which moving endless belts are employed to cover the orifices for the ingress and egress of the running textile material, which is passed through the vessel by conventional means, e.g. driven nip rolls. The belts are mounted in the treatment vessel, conveniently on driven rolls, so that part of the belt moves in sliding contact over an area of the vessel wall surrounding the orifice, being urged snugly and yieldingly thereagainst by the pressure within the vessel whilst the fabric passes between part of the wall of the vessel and part of the belt which are adjacent to the orifice, and moves in fixed contact with the latter, or nearly fixed contact, because the belt is caused to move at substantially the same speed as the fabric is passed through 3,250,096 Patented May 10, 1966 but in this case the moving belts would be mounted outside the vessel. Thus the belts are always mounted so as to cover the orifices on the side under the higher pressure.

Accordingly the invention consists of an apparatus comprising a vessel for the continuous treatment of running lengths of textile material under a pressure differing from the external pressure, with orifices adapted to permit the ingress and egress of the textile material and means for passing the latter therethrough, an area of the vessel wall adjoining and surrounding each orifice being covered on the side under the higher pressure by part of an endless belt passing adjacently thereto, urged snugly and yieldingly thereagainst by the pressure and moved in the same direction and at substantially the same speed as the textile material is passed through the vessel which it enters and leaves by passing between part of the vessel wall adjoining each orifice and part of the belt urged yieldingly thereagainst.

The endless belts may be made of various flexible materials, e.g. natural rubber, artificial rubbers such as polychloroprene, polytetrafluoroethylene, nylon fabrics impregnated with artificial resins.

It will be apparent on contemplating the aboveappa ratus that when the internal pressure is greater than the external pressure and the endless belts are accordingly mounted within the vessel, a textile material e.g. a fabric therethrough may usually approach and leave the Wall of the vessel in a direction substantially normal thereto, in which case the fabric will be bent through a right angle on passing through the orifice and between the belt and vessel wall. To facilitate the bending of the moving fabric it is advantageous that the edge of the orifice over which the fabric passes should be smooth and rounded.

By way of illustrating but not limiting the invention the working thereof will now be explained in greater detail with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing.

1Treatment vessel 2--Lagging thereon 3Running fabric 4Endless belts 5Driven rolls for belts 6-Steam inlet 7- -Draining cock 8Nip rolls 9Rollers to guide fabric 10, 11Orifices in treatment vessel In operating the apparatus the fabric 3 is passed through the treatment vessel 1 from left to right by means of the driven nip rolls 8, 8, 8, 8, the fabric entering the vessel through orifice 10 and leaving through orifice 11. The endless belts 4, 4, which cover an area of the vessel wall surrounding each of the orifices 10, 11, are driven by the rolls 5, 5, 5, 5, at the same speed as the fabric is passed through the vessel. Saturated steam at a pressure of 1% atmospheres is admitted to the vessel through the inlet 6. Whilst the belts 4, 4, are passing from one roll to another past the orifices 10, 11 and adjacently to the wall of the vessel 1, they are urged yieldingly thereagainst by the steam pressure. The fabric 3 passes immediately upon entering the vessel 1 at orifice 10 between the wall of said vessel and part of the endless belt adjacent thereto. Similarly immediately prior to leaving the vessel 1 at orifice 11, the fabric 3 passes between the wall of said vessel and the endless belt adjacent thereto. The belts thus efiectively seal the orifices so that the leak of steam therethrough is negligible.

What we claim is: i

1. Apparatus for the continuous treatment of running lengths of textile material at a pressure different from the pressure external of the apparatus comprising: walls defining a vessel having orifices adapted to permit the ingress and egress of the textile material; means for passing the textile into and out of said vessel through said orifices; sealing means covering each orifice and a substantial area of the wall surrounding each orifice and responsive to an increase in the difference between the pressures inside and outside said vessel to increase the sealing effect, said sealing means including a flexible endless belt driven at substantially the same speed and in the same direction as the textile material is passed through said vessel, said belt being disposed on the high pressure side of each orifice and having a portion of one face thereof in sliding contact with said substantial area of said wall and the other face of said portion exposed to the higher pressure so as to yieldably urge said portion toward said substantial area of said wall, the textile material passing between part of said substantial area of said wall and part of said belt portion.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pressure within the vessel is greater than the pressure of the external atmosphere and the belts are mounted inside said vessel.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the vessel contains saturated steam under pressure.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the edge of each orifice over which the textile material passes is smooth and rounded.

5. An apparatus comprising a vessel for the continuous treatment of running lengths of textile material under a pressure of steam greater than the pressure of the external atmosphere, with orifices adapted to permit the ingress and egress of the textile material and means for passing the latter therethrough, an area of the vessel wall adjoining and surrounding each orifice being covered on the inner side by part of an endless belt mounted within said vessel, passing adjacently to the wall thereof, urged snugly and yieldingly thereagainst by the pressure of steam and moved in the same direction and at substantially the same speed as the textile material is passed through the vessel which it enters and leaves by passing between part of the vessel wall adjoining each orifice and part of the belt urged yieldingly thereagainst.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 689,478 12/1901 Fish. 2,298,906 10/ 1942 Sperry 68-5 3,040,553 6/1962 Rust 685 FOREIGN PATENTS 16,752 1906 Great Britain. 28,928 1906 Great Britain.

IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF RUNNING LENGTHS OF TEXTILE MATERIAL AT A PRESSURE DIFFERENT FROM THE PRESSURE EXTERNAL OF THE APPARATUS COMPRISING: WALLS DEFINING A VESSEL HAVING ORIFICES ADAPTED TO PERMIT THE INGRESS AND EGRESS OF TEXTILE MATERIAL; MEANS FOR PASING THE TEXTILE INTO AND OUT OF SAID VESSEL THROUGH SAID ORIFICES; SEALING MEANS COVERING EACH ORIFICE AND A SUBSTANTIAL AREA OF THE WALL SURROUNDING EACH ORIFICE AND RESPONSIVE TO AN INCREASE IN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PRESSURES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SAID VESSEL TO INCREASE THE SEALING EFFECT, SAID SEALING MEANS INCLUDING A FLEXIBLE ENDLESS BELT DRIVEN AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME SPEED AND IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE TEXTILE MATERIAL IS PASSED THROUGH SAID VESSEL, SAID BELT BEING DISPOSED ON THE HIGH PRESSURE SIDE OF EACH ORIFICE AND HAVING A PORTION OF ONE FACE THEREOF IN SLIDING CONTACT WITH SAID SUBSTANTIAL AREA OF SAID WALL AND THE OTHER FACE OF SAID PORTION EXPOSED TO THE HIGHER PRESSURE SO AS TO YIELDABLY URGE SAID PORTION TOWARD SAID SUBSTANTIAL AREA OF SAID WALL, THE TEXTILE MATERIAL PASSING BETWEEN PART OF SAID SUBSTANTIAL AREA OF SAID WALL AND PART OF SAID BELT PORTION. 